It has been a simply amazing year for us – the things we’ve seen, the places we visited, the time we spent with one another!  Thank you for all who have followed our adventures through our blogs.  We are thinking of you this holiday season.

Wishing you a new year filled with warm, sunny days and clear, starry nights!  Enjoy the colors of life!

Love, The Fishes

The pastels of the tropics, Koh Ngai

Last night on Koh Ngai - this place makes me so happy!

We were received with huge smiles, a lot of “Sawadee…again…” and “welcome back”.  In fact, the last night we were served by a young lady who was around the first time, but not the second – until this last night.  She said that she was told all about ‘the guests that had come back a second time’ and was so very excited about it.  Again, they treat you like you are family.  Moo, the man in charge, said, we should come back with when we have babies.

Well….maybe….maybe….Until then though, tomorrow we leave Thailand and start our long journey back to the States.  We get to spend a week in San Diego to celebrate Christmas with my wonderful family.

Happy Holidays from the Fishes!

Anyway, thought I’d add a little something about how we traveled around the islands.  The photo belows shows Q amongst a bunch of tourists and luggage randomly scattered about the very top of this ferry boat.  It’s not a bad way to travel during good weather – on the sunny top deck, sometime we’d dangle our legs over the edge occasionally cooled by a spray of ocean water….(although sometimes we’d actually get drenched from something a bit bigger than a spray…)

Thai Ferry

Each resort would have their own longtail boat that would ‘dock’ alongside the ferry and we would hop off the ferry onto the somewhat stable longtail which would take us to our island resort.  Often we would wade through the ocean waters to get to dry land.  A wonderful way to make our way to our next destination.

Docking station

The longtail is a very useful, relatively small boat that is equipped with a car engine rigged up for the boat.  It’s pretty loud, pretty dirty, but apparently very easily maintained.

Closeup of the longtail dirty, dirty engine and steering wheel

Longtail decorations in Pak Meng Pier (pier on the mainland where we left for Koh Ngai)

Longtail Livin'

Longtail boat ride to Ko Phi Phi - the normal method of transportation in Thailand

You might have noticed a theme here – beach, food, beach, food, beach, food.  But, we really did do some stuff from time to time (although beaching and eating were our main activities.)

We also spent a lot of time getting $7-10/hr massages – either Thai massage or oil massage.  The massage is part of the tourist experience.  A significant part of Thai massage includes yoga-like stretches.  The practitioner guides you through a series of yoga postures while palming and thumbing along the body’s energy lines and pressures points.   Together these actions are supposed to result in a full body treatment that relieves muscular tension, improves circulation, boosts the immune system and balances the body energetically. It is usually performed on the floor in comfy clothes.  So, if you want to feel like you’ve just worked out – go for the Thai massage.  But, if you want something purely relaxing, you better choose the oil massage!

I took a cooking class.  We made soup, Pad Thai, Green and Panang curries.  It was SO fun, so interesting and, boy, was I STUFFED when I was done…

We also did a bunch of day trips to different islands – you know, to mix up the scenery as we lounge on the beach and snorkel the gorgeous waters.

From Ko Lanta, we visited the island of Ko Rok with some of the nicest white beaches I’ve ever seen….and some Komodo dragon lizards!

Ko Rok

Not the greatest photo - but look at the size of these things! (Our battery died after only one crappy photo)

We also went to the famed Ko Phi Phi.  Perhaps known in the USA as one of the areas destroyed by the tsunami, but known to the European as a cool, party island.   We were glad we decided to only do a day trip – there were zillions of people.  If you could picture it without all the people, it truly is amazingly beautiful.  As the Lonely Planet says “Oh , how beauty can be a burden.  Like Marilyn Monroe, Phi Phi studding looks have become her own demise.  Everyone wants a piece of her.”  Part of her demise might have been that it is also famed for being the island where the movie “The Beach” with Leo DiCaprio was filmed.

Ao Ton Sai Beach (the main pier) on Ko Phi Phi

The madness of Ko Phi Phi's 'backpacker village' - a lot like Khao Sam Road in Bangkok (between the two main beaches)

Maya Beach (the "secret" beach where "The Beach" was filmed - not much of secret anymore!)

Part of the beauty of the area - the striking limestone cliffs rising out of the blue waters of the Andaman Sea

At the end of our trip we went on  a 4-island tour.   The places we went were amazing.  The snorkeling was the best we’ve done YET!  We didn’t always have the camera to capture the beauty, but we saw coral painted in every color under the sun – so many pinks and purples, light and dark greens, even yellows and oranges and maroons – we saw purple-brown color with bright blue tips, green with white tips.  We saw the soft coral, pointy, fan-like, discs, shelves, intricate designs.  And TONS of multi-colored fish!

Snorkeling near Ko Cherk

Snorkeling near Ko Cherk

Snorkeling

Snorkeling

Ko Muk is the home of the Emerald Cave. You have to swim through a pitch black cave before it opens up to a gorgeous white sand beach. Legends claim that pirates used to hide their booty in this place – only accessible at low tide. We had lunch on the same island, but down the way a bit on a gorgeous, uninhabited beach.

Emerald Cave, Koh Muk

It's hard to picture a better lunch spot for our day trip. Ko Muk Island (although it's part of the National Park, money talks and this area just got bought by a developer. So sad...)

AtHome Guesthouse, Sukhothai

More importantly, though, the ruins.  Sukhothai (meaning Rising of Happiness) was the first capital of Siam (Thailand) and flourished from 1238-1438.  This was considered the golden age of Thai civilization when progress was made in both religious art and architecture and when the first Thai script was developed.  Before that, the area was ruled by the Khumer empire (Cambodians) which influence is seen a couple of the sights.  Q and I rented some cruiser bikes to get around the sites and headed off into the unknown.

Sukhothai Historical Park, a beautiful location with mountain in the distance, lotus ponds in the foreground

Sukhothai Historical Park

Sukhothai Historical Park

Sukhothai Historical Park - See the Khmer influence (similar to Angkor Watt architecture)

Reverred Buddha Statue, noted for his lovely long fingers (see next photo)

Reverred Buddha Statue, check out his lovely long fingers

Lighting some incense for the big guy

We expected a lot of crowds, as always seem to come with tourist destinations in this country.  But, like with the town, there were very few of us foreign tourists, mainly school kids.  It was quiet and felt very much off the beaten path of the normal backpacker route.  I was tickled pink!  This was the only place where the kids (and there were quite a number of school kids here) yelled “hello” at us every time they saw us.  In fact, we had one lady ask if we would be in a photos with her two girls…so we obliged.  It’s always a little fun and a little weird when asked to do such a thing. We also ate some of the best pad thai yet, from a vendor that Q swore he would never eat at before he came to Thailand.  Some vendors look sketchy and we avoid those.  But, the locals and tourists alike are always visiting these places where they have one big wok, a bunch of ingredients waiting to be made into something delicious and cheap.  Everything is outside, including an eating area, fully furnished with plastic have tables and chairs.  Most importantly, each table contained the 4-spice condiments platter (sugar-sweet, soy sauce-salty, chili vinegar – acidic, chili flakes – spicy).  While working for Boston Market, Q learned about “unami” – the importance of combining these four taste for enhancing the flavors in your food.  Apparently, this it is of utmost importance in Thailand.

Pad Thai from street-side vendor

Speaking of food, the day we visited the ruins was Thanksgiving Day!  We didn’t exactly get turkey and stuffing.  But, I tried.  I had chicken, rather than turkey.  Boiled potatoes, rather than mashed.  Rice, rather than stuffing.  All combined in a massman curry sauce.  Yeah, a far stretch for thanksgiving dinner, but it was delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Fishes in Thailand!

But, there is something in the way they conduct themselves that makes everything seem smooth, easy, efficient.  You might be walking with 100s of people down some sidewalk, but they aren’t pushy or rude – just sort of calm and, well, quiet, polite.

Here are some things that we noted and LOVED about this great country (besides all the gorgeous sights we visited):

EASY!  Despite the fact that they write in Kanji, they have kindly put English on almost all of their signs!  People didn’t speak a ton of English (although we were told they all have 7 years of english in school), but even if they didn’t they would always try to help a lost and confused tourist.  And you can almost always tell who is a tourist – we don’t have black hair, eyes, light skin, and slender builds.  I forgot how odd it is to be in a country where everyone has the similar features.  It’s pretty cool to be from a country that is a melting pot; therefore no defining physical qualities.

Orderly:  There are many examples of this, but my favorite is the AIRPORT BAGGAGE CLAIM.  Here, there is a line painted about 3 feet from the rotating baggage belt.  People stand behind this until they spot their bag.  Carts are not allowed in this space.  (I HATE when people rush the baggage belt – it’s a pet peeve.)  Another great example, the lines that form exactly where the doors of the bus or train open.  They even have painted lines showing where to line up.

The sleek Shinkansen

Public transportation system:  This HAS to be the best in the world.  If you can’t get there by some sort of subway, train, bullet train, bus efficiently and quickly, you are probably looking for a place that doesn’t exit.  Japan’s bullet train, the Shinkansen, is amazing…traveling up to 200 mph.  The first time on of these flew by on the center track, I about had a heart attack.  Q saw it coming.  I didn’t (facing the wrong way) and it scared the daylights out of me.  That’s a lot of power, a lot of speed!!

Living it up on the Shinkansen

To ride one of these is a treat.  Tons more leg room than any airplane.  So smooth.  So quiet.  They ask you to kindly turn off your cell phone.  No one talks on them (apparently, it’s rude).  No annoying music or annoying TV noise.  The bullet trains go between all the mayor cities in the country.  If there isn’t a bullet train, there is a local line.  We rode this system to get EVERYWHERE.  Never got too confused.  Just had to be careful of the rapid vs. local vs. express versions of the same lines – we blew right past one of our stops because we were on the rapid when we should have been on the local…

Buses:  In some areas, the buses would actually turn off the engine if stopped at a very long light.  THAT is amazing.

Walking:  There are signs on on the subway stairs and city sidewalks indicating where to walk and where to bike.  In Japan, you walk on the left.  Not the right.  These signs are very helpful for our type. ALTHOUGH, to keep you on your toes, sometimes they switch it.

Smoking:  Everyone here seems to smoke, but it’s kind of hard to tell.  There are designated smoking areas, ON THE SIDEWALK where the smokers congregate.  This is where they have a special trash to throw away their butts (what a concept!)  We saw most of them with portable ash trays in which they would ash in, not littering like in the US.

Health: Lots of masks – like doctor’s masks.  Usually these are worn if that person is sick and doesn’t want to contaminate others.  Although, there are some who wear masks to avoid the germs of others.  Almost all public service folks wear them.  Lots of school kids where them (they’ve had quite a few school shut downs due to swine flu), and then your occasional white dude…that was always odd.

School kids in uniform and masks

Religion:  There are two main religions in Japan:  Shinto (which is honored at a SHRINE) and Buddhism (which is honored at a TEMPLE).  What’s interesting is that 86% of the Japanese follow both religions. In our western, monotheistic religious world, it might seem odd.  I think it seems kind of smart.  Supposedly the Japanese are fond of saying that Shinto is the religion of this world and this life, Buddhism is for matters of the soul and the next world.  Shinto holds that gods reside in nature itself and Buddhism stresses the impermanence of the natural world.  Seems to be that they have their bases covered – smart, right?!

It’s always good to know if you’ve entered a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple since they have different rituals associated with them.  The gate is the easiest way to tell.

Shrine Gate, Torii

Shrine Gate, Torii

Buddhist Temple Gate

Buddhist Temple Gate

Bathrooms:  Whereas there are still the occasional squatter toilet, most are western style.  But they aren’t just any western toilet – they are tricked out with toilet seat warmers, flushing sounds (to avoid the embarrassing noises that come with going to the bathroom), bidets, and all sorts of other gadgets.  Including an automatic wastebasket opener, activated by motion, for us ladies.  LOVED that!  One place we stayed has a huge mirror in the bathroom with a defogging function behind a portion of it above the sink. No need to wipe off a clear spot in the mirror – very cool.

Others?  Gloves.  White gloves on all workers, it seems – just elegant.  But maybe most importantly, No spitting, hawking up lugies, staring, laughing.  Only smiles.

A favorite story or two:  On a busy bus, I had my big ‘ole backpack sitting in the seat next to me.  A little old lady got on the bus, with nowhere to sit, so I moved the big pack onto my lap.  She was delighted!  She kept smiling at me – I felt her desire to communicate, but instead, she just handed me a pack of grape gum…as a thank you…I think (either than or I had bad breath).

A group of school kids came running up to us.  They had an assignment for their english class and wanted to ask Q some questions.  The main interviewer was a little boy, maybe age 10?  But, every time he talked, he would first turn to his classmates, one of the little girls would tell him what to say, then he’d turn to Q and ask the question.  Adorable.  Q even got his photo taken with the little boy as ‘proof’ for the english teacher.

Japan was a fantastic destination.  Maybe we will return…but this time in the spring for all the blossoms in their glory!  Sayonara for now!